Leicester City 0-4 Liverpool: 3 players who impressed and 2 who didn't | Premier League 2019-20
Leicester City welcomed Liverpool to a thrilling encounter at the King Power Stadium on Boxing Day, with the Reds convincingly beating the hosts. With their loss against Manchester City last time out, the Foxes would have hoped for a different outcome against the Premier League leaders.
From the onset, Liverpool took charge of the game as Leicester looked poor on and off the ball, playing without any fire or drive. It showed as the first 20 minutes saw the visitors creating chances and the hosts making silly defensive errors.
31 minutes into the game, Liverpool were eventually rewarded for their consistency in the final third. A poorly cleared corner saw Trent Alexander-Arnold send a whipped cross into the far post where Roberto Firmino was waiting to head the ball past Leciester goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
By the time the first half came to an end, Leicester had showcased a sub-par performance, unable to put Liverpool to test in any way. Surprisingly, even though they had a prolific striker in Jamie Vardy, the Foxes were unable to put a single shot at goal throughout the first half.
The second half began in the same manner and 70 minutes into the game, a Caglar Soyuncu handball inside the box resulted in Liverpool winning a penalty. Substitute James Milner deftly scored from the resultant spot-kick to double the Reds' lead.
Barely four minutes later, a squared ball from Alexander-Arnold into Leicester's box found Firmino, and the Brazilian curled a shot into the top corner of the net. The Reds' fourth goal came in the 78th minute when a Liverpool counter-attack saw Sadio Mane send a pass into Alexander-Arnold, who put a piledriver past Schmeichel.
Liverpool are currently 13 points clear of second-placed Leicester City, having played a game less than the Foxes.
Without further ado, let's take a look at three players who impressed and two who didn't at the King Power Stadium.
#5 Naby Keita played well for Liverpool
Naby Keita excelled in his role as the Reds midfielder engineered the entire game from the middle of the park. He troubled the Leicester midfield and defence throughout his time on the pitch with his dribbling, agility, and passing.
Notably, some 40 minutes into the game, he nimbly dribbled past Harvey Barnes, WIlifred Ndidi, and Ricardo Pereira to get into the penalty area before Soyoncu cleared the ball. Keita made six dribbles in the 69 minutes he played, more than any other player on the field, and he kept Liverpool's passing going with a 92% pass accuracy.
The 24-year-old hardly put a foot wrong throughout the game and helped Liverpool maintain the fast-paced and driven tempo they began with.